New Valve Day -- ECC832/12DW7

[Plenum n Heather]

The JJ ECC832 I ordered from Tube Depot arrived the other day.

First, about the packaging -- comparatively speaking, this was the most well-packed shipment I have ever received. Tube Depot REALLY well-packed this valve!

The reason I ordered this valve was because I have been looking for something to put into the V1 slot of my EAST Studio 2 that would lessen a bit of the front end gain (this amp does not have much headroom to speak of) but not change the voicing of the actual preamp; every other low-gain valve I've used in V1 has really changed the sound of the preamp and made it rather stiff and bright sounding.

So, the ECC832 looked like a really interesting option.

Of course, this valve will not work in every amp; it really depends on what you are going for. I thought that lessening the overall gain by 50% would be a very good thing.

Well, this does pretty much exactly what I wanted! The amp still sounds like one of Jeff's designs; if anything, it's probably more classic 'Budda' sounding now. But the gain is greatly reduced. With the EQ set at noon, Presence off, Master at 9 o'clock, Volume at 9 o'clock, the gain really defines how much grit your tone has. I have used it with my SG and with my 'super tele' with a Bare Knuckle VHII and Trilogy Suite.

With the gain all the way up, the amp has a really nice, musical breakup -- on single notes you may not even notice how much gain is there, but it's definitely noticeable on chord work. Goosed with a gain or the BB Preamp, and you are right into metal country -- tons of crunch galore.

I am using this setup on a new recording and am quite happy with it -- it's a very Yes Album Steve Howe type of tone -- clean but lots of bite!!

[Kiichi]

Congrats that it worked out for you so well. As you mentioned it is incredibly hard to reduce gain and leave tone intact with a tube change. They way you describe your tone now sound pretty amazing^^

[Plenum n Heather]

I will have a clip soon ... working out the overdubs.

[Plenum n Heather]

No EQ or any actual mixing done to this as yet (it's part of a much larger song), but still a decent representation of what the amp sounds like with the 12DW7 in the V1 slot.

Intro is 6 layers (2 original guitars, 4 harmonies). "Verse" section is 2 guitars. "Refrain" section is 4 guitars; 2 straight into the amp and 2 with the BB Preamp.

https://soundcloud.com/bena/12dw7-ecc832-test

[Kiichi]

That is a good sound mate! Really nice and clear. For the more classic crunch sounds that is very cool, I imagine you got a great range on those now.

Personally I probably would have set something like my Klone set in front instead of the BB Preamp to add in a tad of gain, but then again, I personally would have not changed the valve to begin with cause I like gain^^

[Plenum n Heather]

That is a good sound mate! Really nice and clear. For the more classic crunch sounds that is very cool, I imagine you got a great range on those now.

Thanks!

Personally I probably would have set something like my Klone set in front instead of the BB Preamp to add in a tad of gain, but then again, I personally would have not changed the valve to begin with cause I like gain^^

I love gain, too; but, more importantly, I like to have the 'right' amount of gain available when I need it. I have been kicking around the idea of throwing my Naga Viper on the board to do just as you suggested, as it's supposed to work really well in that capacity.

If I need to step up from gain to outright valve distortion, it's a simple matter of pulling the ECC832 out and popping the ECC803S in there.

Like you said, it's great to have the option! :)

[TheyCallMeVolume]

Congrats! Good to know they packed well too, some places don't take as much care as they should with something like a tube.